Fossilized and sclerotic beat-era poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote this poem which appeared on the op-ed page of Friday's San Francisco Chronicle.
Speak OutThe only paranoia I have seen is from the Saddam-friendly "anti-war" activists, most notably from the "poets"And a vast paranoia sweeps across the land
And America turns the attack on its Twin TowersActually, it's the same Islamic nutjobs who attacked New York and Washington who are waging war against the Third World, e.g. Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Bali, Mombasa, Afghanistan, Tunisia, need I say more?Into the beginning of the Third World War
The war with the Third World
And the terrorists in Washingtonyes, the Islamic nutjobs put terrorists in Washington too. Remember John Muhammad and John Malvo?
Are drafting all the young menThe draft ended in 1973, long before you were wearing diapers.
And no one speaksLots of people are speaking out against the government. Just because most of them seem to be idiots does not mean that there's no one speaking
And they are rousting outAll the ones with turbans? Most of the people with turbans are Sikh and I don't know of any Sikhs who have been implicated with the Islamic nutjobs.All the ones with turbans
And they are flushing outnot all the strange immigrants; only the dangerous Islamic nutjobs and those who have broken the lawAll the strange immigrants
And they are shipping all the young menonly those who volunteered to join the military
To the killing fields againLots of people are speaking.And no one speaks
And when they come to round upThe only endangered writers on the planet are mainly in danger from the Islamic world or from China. The They you are refering to (i.e. the Bush family) are not rounding up any great writers and poets. And don't worry, they're not rounding up any senile has-been poets either.All the great writers and poets and painters
only those who volunteered to join the militaryThe National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency
Will not speak
While all the young men
Will be killing all the young menonly those who stay loyal to Saddam and don't have the good sense to mutiny or surrender
In the killing fields againI will speak in a moment. see belowSo now is the time for you to speak
All you lovers of libertyhad better be careful when visiting Islamic countries
must better not run afoul of the Sha'aria policeAll you lovers of the pursuit of happiness
Your tedious poetry is putting me to sleepAll you lovers and sleepers
Deep in your private dreamsOkay, now I'll speak. Hey, Larry. Come back and see me when you have something sensible to say. In the meantime, don't waste our time with all this delusional nonsense.Now is the time for you to speak
They are not coming for anybody. At least not the they Ferlinghetti is talking about. The only people who we need to worry about coming for us are the Islamic nutjobs who already came and killed and will come again.O silent majority
Before they come for you
What's most interesting is that Ferlinghetti seems to have no clue that he and his beatnik friends -- Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs -- represent precisely the values and behaviors that the Islamic terrorists and their state sponsors despise most --- freedom of expression, free love, homosexuality, sexually explicit art, socialism, the drinking of alcohol, the taking of drugs.
I'll be more inclined to listen to Ferlinghetti's anti-American hysteria and suggestions for dealing with the Islamic world after he sets up a branch of his City Lights bookstore in Riyadh and tries to sell Howl in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 15, 2003 11:06 AM"And when they come to round up
All the great writers and poets and painters "
An ironic line, considering the fatwa on Salman Rushdie has been renewed.
Posted by: Joe on February 15, 2003 12:51 PMCertainly the Bush war machine sees poets and artists as the main bulwark of progressive peoples against its nefarious machinations. If Karen Finley, Robert Maplethorpe, and for that matter Lawrence Ferlinghetti were sentenced to the labor camps in Alaska--being built even as I write--then Bush and his toadies Powell and Rice would face no opposition at all to their drive to take over the world.
I must also tip my metaphoric hat to the San Francisco area women who also struck a blow against imperialism by taking off their clothes and forming anti-war slogans with their bodies. A few more such blows against the machine and it cannot stand.
The Iraqi people love and support Saddam. After all, few reporters who have talked to Iraqis in Iraq have found anyone who speaks against Saddam, and the electorate spoke with one voice in the recent election.
I think leading the U.S.into the mad rush to war is in chapter 9 of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
The voice of peace-lovers should be heard, despite the Bush regime's attempts to silence dissent--an attempt that is so successful that you can only see signs of opposition all over tv, radio, the newspapers, and in any bookstore. I am glad to raise mine here.
Posted by: Alex Bensky on February 17, 2003 12:14 PMI think Ferlinghetti wrote this same poem in 1964 and just changed the names.
Posted by: Yehudit on February 17, 2003 05:23 PMI guess poetic license is a license to kill truth.
Posted by: nobody important on February 21, 2003 12:31 PMAlex Bensky said: "The Iraqi people love and support Saddam.
After all, few reporters who have talked to Iraqis in Iraq have found
anyone who speaks against Saddam..."
Unless you live in a vacuum, you surely must be aware that dissent
wasn't tolerated under Saddam's regime. People who spoke out
publicly against Saddam were imprisoned, tortured, and or murdered.
Mr. Bensky also said: "I think leading the U.S.into the mad rush to
war is in chapter 9 of 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.'"
The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" was debunked a long
time ago--it was a document written by anti-Semites in Czarist
Russia--a hoax about a mythical Jewish conspiracy to control
the world.
Ref: http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/protocol.html
Someone who uses the Protocols to support his opposition to war
has no credibility...and it's interesting to note that the left wing has
its own share of bigots, too.
Just in case you ever wander back here, Hyperion, let me ask if the word "sarcasm" means anything to you.
Posted by: Alex Bensky on March 17, 2005 05:12 PM